Left-leaning GetUp! campaigners target hard Right wreckers

Left-leaning group GetUp! infuriates the “hard Right” Liberals it ruthlessly seeks to depose and delights the Labor, Green and independent progressives whose shared causes it zealously promotes.

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Left-leaning group GetUp! infuriates the “hard Right” Liberals it ruthlessly seeks to depose and delights the Labor, Green and independent progressives whose shared causes it zealously promotes.

As GetUp!’s website declares, the group “does what it takes to win”.

It claims more than one million members, movement partners and a central team of expert strategists.

Campaigns focus on “environmental justice, human rights, economic fairness and democratic integrity”.

Almost 8000 volunteers nationally are making calls and doorknocking during the election campaign, aiming to have one million conversations with voters in an effort GetUp! says is its largest yet.

Six Liberals are being targeted, because GetUp! brands them “hard Right wreckers” who “are out of touch with local people”.

Headlining the list is former prime minister Tony Abbott. Widespread condemnation on Wednesday forced GetUp! to scrap a campaign ad depicting Mr Abbott as a lifeguard, refusing to save a drowning swimmer as he munched an onion on a beach.

The other five Liberals in GetUp!’s sights are former leadership aspirant and Dickson (Qld) MP Peter Dutton, Attorney-General and Pearce (WA) MP Christian Porter, Health Minister and Flinders (Vic) MP Greg Hunt, former employment minister and Menzies (Vic) MP Kevin Andrews and Boothby (SA) MP Nicolle Flint.

“Removing the hard Right from parliament will enable MPs to collaborate better, for a safe climate for our kids or to ensure we treat people seeking asylum humanely,” GetUp! national director Paul Oosting said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday twice branded Opposition Leader Bill Shorten “the Godfather of GetUp!”, referring to his role as one of GetUp!’s founding directors in 2005.

The Australian Workers’ Union, when Mr Shorten was its leader, donated at least $100,000 to the pressure group.

Former ACTU secretary and Labor MP Jennie George last year urged the AWU to release documents that could prove the donation was properly authorised.

GetUp! chairman Phil Ireland.

GetUp! also has been accused of being tightly controlled by a nine-member board, many of whom have strong links to Labor and the Greens. GetUp! chairman Phil Ireland, a digital campaigning professional, is a former NSW operations director for left-leaning union United Voice.

He is said to be an ALP member and a former NSW convener of Labor Environmental Action Network.

Board member Carla McGrath was removed from the Australian Press Council last August, following a resolution that her GetUp! position created “an ongoing and irreconcilable conflict of interest”.

Tangney Liberal MP Ben Morton, a former WA state party director, inspected GetUp!’s membership registry last November.

“The reality is that GetUp!’s membership register does not reveal a grassroots, democratic, activist organisation; rather, it reveals an incredibly tightly controlled company,” Mr Morton told parliament last November.

“ … Former GetUp! directors have revealed that GetUp! was formed as part of the architecture for Labor winning office and the infrastructure for defeating the Coalition.”

But an Australian Electoral Commission ruling in February reinforced GetUp!’s claimed independence, because the group was not said to be associated with one particular political party.

This followed similar AEC rulings in 2005 and 2010.

GetUp! chief Mr Oosting said: “From my point of view, this couldn’t have been more definitive. It’s extremely reaffirming that the work that we’ve done in election campaigns is the sort of role that GetUp! members can and should play.”

Responding to Mr Morrison labelling Mr Shorten the Godfather of GetUp!, Mr Oosting said former Liberal leader John Hewson was involved in many board meetings when GetUp! was founded in 2005, along with others including union and environmental groups.

“GetUp! is a fiercely independent organisation and what the Prime Minister has said is clearly misleading,” Mr Oosting said.